1. Field of the Invention:
This invention relates to a picture image recording device and more particularly to a device using a recording medium which permits setting a plurality of recording tracks separately from each other for recording picture image signals on each of them.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
Picture image recording devices of the type using a recording medium which permits setting a plurality of recording tracks separately from each other for recording signals of still picture images on each of the set tracks have already been proposed.
Since the recording device of this type is designed for recording still picture images, the basic function thereof is arranged, for example, to perform recording of one picture image each time a camera is triggered. Considering applications of the device of this type, if it is only possible to record more than just one picture image by each trigger operation, the function of the device is not always satisfactory and is thus applicable only to a limited range of purposes.
If the device of this type is arranged to be capable of continuously recording images on recording tracks as long as the camera trigger is persistently effected, it would be convenient for recording the images of a moving object such as recording for motion analysis or something like a so-called time-lapse filming. Such arrangement can be very advantageously usable, for example, for analyzing a golf swing, batting, a pitching motion and the like and, accordingly would find a wider range of applications by virtue of functional improvement.
On the other hand, the most advantageous point of the picture image recording device of this type lies in that, unlike a photographic camera that uses a silver salt film, it permits, for example: Even when recording has been made only halfway on the recording medium, the record can be taken out and put on a suitable reproducing device for appreciation of just the recorded part as desired; and, after appreciation, the recording medium can be returned to the recording device and then other picture images can be recorded on the rest of the recording medium. Or, with the fully recorded medium put on the reproducing device, some of the recorded tracks may be erased by means of an eraser and then other picture images may be recorded as replacement on the erased tracks.
For such usage, it is very important to provide some facility that permits accurate discernment of a recorded track and a track not recorded from each other. Without such discernment, if another picture image is recorded on the recorded track, two picture image signals would be mixed and a reproduced picture image would be hardly acceptable because, in the device of this type, it is extremely difficult to precisely align the heads of two picture image signals for synchronization and synchronism tends to be lost.
It is, therefore, highly advantageous for a device of this type to be provided with arrangement to accurately discern a recorded track from a track not recorded and to give a warning when a recording track on which recording is going to be performed has been already recorded; or to automatically prohibit double recording on a recorded track; or, with further advanced arrangement, to shift a track of a recording head to another track, when the track to be used for recording has been already recorded, either by mechanically shifting the head or by electrically shifting the head through change-over between head channels. Such arrangement would automatically ensure that recording can be always performed on a recording track which has not been recorded.
Further, a device of this type is required to have a facility for indicating the number of recorded tracks. If such indication is arranged to be made by directly detecting up to which of the recording tracks recording has been performed and to show the number of recorded tracks according to the result of such detection, the device must have a complex structure, which then would hinder an effort to make the device compact. In another conceivable arrangement, the recording medium may be placed in a cartridge; a code marking may be attached to a part of the housing thereof every time recording is performed on a recording track; and then the number of recorded tracks may be indicated by detecting the code markings. In this case, it is an advantage that the number of recording tracks that have been recorded can be indicated when the cartridge is once taken out from the recording device halfway during a recording operation thereon and thereafter again put in the device. However, this method is not completely satisfactory because it still unnecessarily complicates the structure arrangement and also might cause an erroneous action when the device is reloaded with the cartridge.
As mentioned in the foregoing, the picture image recording device of the prior arts still require improvement in various points.